As Promised, BMW Sold 100,000 Plug-In Vehicles in 2017

The electric car market has become one of the fastest-growing markets in auto sales, and automakers are racing to establish themselves early. While newer companies like Tesla and Faraday Futures try to earn recognition and consumer confidence, established giants are using their name-recognition and brand ratings to push their electric cars to the forefront of the oncoming electric car revolution. This week, German automaker BMW has announced they’ve done just that by hitting their year-long goal of selling 100,000 plug-in vehicles worldwide.

The 100,000th vehicle, a BMW i3 in Protonic Blue, was sold in Munich to an 80-year-old driver from the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany at the BMW Welt exhibition center. The milestone means that BMW now accounts for 10% of the global electric vehicle market, and 21% of the market in Europe. In a press release, BMW Chairman of the Board Harald Krüger says that while reaching their goal proves they are a force to be reckoned with on the electric and hybrid car markets, the German automaker plans to expand the reach of its electrics even further:

We deliver on our promises. This 99-metre-high signal is lighting the way into the era of electro-mobility. Selling 100,000 electrified cars in one year is an important milestone, but this is just the beginning for us. Our early focus on electro-mobility has made this success possible – and electro-mobility will continue to be my measure for our future success.

Just last month, BMW unveiled its new hybrid BMW i8 Roadster in Los Angeles. The automaker plans to have twenty-five different electric vehicle options available worldwide by 2025. Still, while these numbers sound impressive, they so far are still just a tiny portion of BMW’s overall sales – just 7% in Europe and the U.S. Electric vehicles have a long way to go before they overtake sales of gas powered vehicles, and unfortunately, industries and consumers both are sometimes slow to change their habits.